Innehållsförteckning för June 2016 från Car and Driver

100 MILLION Lines of code in a Bentayga, the vast majority of which are written in proprietary computer languages. The Bentayga’s product-line director tells us that refining and debugging the software in a modern car can be the biggest task facing its developers 90 Number of control modules, or computers, communicating across the Bentayga’s local area network. 110 Approximate weight, in pounds, of the wiring in a Bentayga. For comparison, Painless Performance, a company that builds wiring harnesses for restorations, tells us that a barebones muscle car’s harness weighs less than 10 pounds. ALMOST AS MUCH AS FUEL, electronic signals are the lifeblood of a modern vehicle. And the Bentley Bentayga is a poster child for just how complex today’s electrical systems can be. If it doesn’t have the most-elaborate…

THE CAMERAS AND RADAR SENSORS that enable today’s highly automated cruise-control systems can see only 250 yards ahead in the best conditions. That’s barely more than six seconds of lead time at 80 mph, and traffic, weather, and topography often shrink visibility to even shorter distances. For true autonomy, self-driving cars will need a better understanding of the bigger picture. The coming generation of so-called high-definition maps will supply that picture, along with enough detail for computers to make predictive decisions rather than reactive adjustments. While today’s navigation maps represent each road as a single lane, HD maps include multiple lanes with usage rules, curbs, shoulders, road signs, and guardrails. Armed with high-definition maps, the smartest cars will leapfrog slow-moving traffic, negotiate interchanges, move over for merging cars, choose the…

A YouTube video that made the rounds purports to depict a streetcar ride down San Francisco’s Market Street just four days before the calamitous 1906 earthquake that destroyed much of the city. If not filmed then, exactly, the reel was definitely shot in an age when horses still provided much of the motive power in cities. Where have all the horses gone? To dude ranches and racing stables and country paddocks, where they now serve primarily as objects of sport and leisure, a change that is presumably more fun for them as well as for their owners. There’s no question that an earthquake is coming to our world. The internal-combustion engine, the old nag that has served us so long, is at the precipice, and one of the early tremors…

TURBOCHARGED engines make big torque at low rpm, but those two numbers, peak torque and its corresponding rpm, don’t tell the full story, as boost pressure isn’t solely a function of engine speed. A turbocharger’s ability to make boost (and inflate torque) depends on the energy in the exhaust stream that spins its turbine. The peak engine output that automakers advertise and owners brag about is measured in laboratories where engines are held at a constant rpm with the throttle wide open and the turbo can take its sweet time spooling. That time is a key characteristic, rarely reported but highly telling, of a boosted engine’s responsiveness. Porsche engineers acknowledge that the newly turbocharged 911 Carrera needs a full three seconds at wideopen throttle to achieve its maximum torque at…

It is difficult to argue against a hatchback Mazda 3 or a Volkswagen Golf. Either works well enough at enough tasks that it can be safely recommended, always and to anyone. Which, of course, we do. The current generations of the 3 and the Golf have won spots on our 10Best list since their inceptions, thanks to excellent combinations of performance, utility, and value. Liked by all, loved by some, these are known quantities, as familiar as our own children. In fact, examples of each have been demanding our time and attention for months now, with a pair of long-term test cars parked here at Eisenhower Place. We even pressed one of them, the website’s Tornado Red Golf, into service for this comparison, matching it with a 3 in Soul…

Minivans have reached their 21st-century cultural inflection point. If vans are going to remain relevant, they must find new customers by fighting off their procreative stigma. Or, conversely, their makers should be doubling-, tripling-, or quadrupling-down on family friendliness and betting on a sustainable uptick in the fertility rate. Chrysler isn’t taking any chances with the 2017 Pacifica; it’s trying both approaches. So Chrysler is all-in on the perpetuation of two species: human and minivan. It’s a leap of faith; a rebranded jump that a better-riding, better-looking, more powerful, gadget-encrusted box will be attractive to today’s buyers. Stuff to increase the van bandwidth—the “vanwidth” to swipe a phrase. And getting out of the van game altogether would have left Chrysler’s dealers with only the 200 and 300 sedans to peddle.…

THIS MAGAZINE’S history with Ralph Nader could charitably be described as contentious. The safety crusader was a regular punching bag for our columnists for the better part of our existence. But we’re men and women enough to stand here today and admit that there’s a chance we got a little carried away, and maybe the guy chalked up some worthwhile accomplishments in his career. Whether the American Museum of Tort Law, recently opened in Nader’s birthplace of Winsted, Connecticut, is one of those, well, that remains to be seen. A legal museum sounds about as exciting as a Museum of Unspoken Petty Criticisms. (Marquee display: June 21, 1987, Man takes more than his fair share of space in the office fridge . . . again.) But our curiosity was piqued.…

When it comes to trucks, the engine inspires as much loyalty as the vehicle it powers. Mazda’s Skyactiv or Hyundai’s Tau engines will never haul in the licensing profits of the Power Stroke, Duramax, or Cummins names. And in light-duty trucks, the displacement also becomes the brand. A Ram isn’t just powered by a Hemi, it’s a “Five-Seven.” A Silverado destined to earn its living better have the “Six-Two.” And if you were serious about building an F-series for work, it used to be that you ordered the old “Five-Four.” So Ford positioning its puny 3.5-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost V-6 atop the F-series lineup caused more than a few observers to choke on their chew. To see how the power structure shakes out, we lined up two nearly identical F-150s: one…

NOT LONG AGO, the only info about electric supercharging in these pages was in the classified section next to a male-enhancement ad. Only one of those products actually worked. Electric supercharging, long rumored but never fully realized, is finally happening. Audi’s upcoming SQ7 TDI pairs an electric supercharger with sequential turbos on the SUV’s 4.0-liter diesel V-8. It’s a first for a production vehicle. As with a conventional centrifugal supercharger, an e-supercharger uses a traditional compressor wheel but drives it with an electric motor rather than a crankdriven belt. E-superchargers draw their power from batteries or capacitors, which can be charged via regenerative braking or, in the case of the SQ7, a beefy generator and a 48-volt sub-system. The biggest benefits of e-supercharging are power and response, particularly at low…

The knocks come hard and fast in the car biz. Case in point: Cadillac. Customers have reacted to the billions invested in two sports sedans and one coupe with an unwavering taste for the old-school Escalade, SRX, and XTS models. Demonstrating admirable resolve, Cadillac hasn’t slackened its attack on luxury imports, bringing forth cars such as the V models, the full-size CT6 sedan, and now the XT5, the two-row crossover presented here, which will directly challenge the established German and Japanese players. Most important, from behind the wheel, the XT5 has the dexterity to convince import defectors that they made a wise move. While Cadillac doesn’t claim to be hunting Porsche Macans, it’s clear that driving enthusiasts tuned the XT5’s chassis. The electrically assisted steering is keen to respond and…

Since the VW Group’s 1998 takeover of Lamborghini, the tiny Italian village of Sant’Agata Bolognese, population 7300, has exploded. The Lamborghini factory nearly tripled its head count since 2000, to 1200 workers, and in the same time increased sales from 296 cars to 3245, the total for 2015. In 19 months, the new Huracán’s sales were up 69 percent over what Lamborghini’s most successful car, the Gallardo, managed in the same time. This new Huracán Spyder shouldn’t let the Santagatesi down. Chopping the top off the atomic wedge didn’t require extra bracing for its aluminum and carbon-fiber spaceframe because the car was designed from the beginning with open-roof aspirations. Lamborghini says stripping the top reduced torsional rigidity by 10 percent, though detecting that reduction is all but impossible because 90…

Same gorgeous package as the nonhybrid, unique powertrain layout. Works better on paper than in the real world, pricey. Success in one endeavor doesn’t necessarily predict the same in another. From a statistical perspective, the more times you win, the more inevitable failure becomes. Because except for John Paciorek, who played exactly one game for Houston in 1963, nobody bats a thousand. And the more unrelated the subsequent mission, the greater the chance of stumbling. Such as: turning a three-row crossover into a plug-in hybrid by exchanging its driveshaft and differential for batteries and an electric motor. To be fair, Volvo doesn’t actually convert a finished XC90 into a T8 Twin-Engine Plug-in Hybrid. There is no team of Swedish robots ripping out Haldex hardware to make way for the 9.2-kWh…

* GODSPEED YOU! GREEN EMPEROR KAISER ROLL — A so-called one-and-a-quarterton truck, the original Kaiser Jeep M715 was built for the armed services from 1967 to 1969. It served as an ambulance and a troop carrier. MOAB, UTAH, WITH its geologically stunning slickrock, is a special place for the Jeep faithful and an idyllic playground for the brand’s 4x4s. It’s also the site of the Easter Jeep Safari, an annual off-roading celebration held around the holiday weekend that draws thousands of four-wheelers to this desert outpost. While the event isn’t exclusive to Jeeps, the brand’s enthusiasm for it has resulted in the creation of some shut-up-and-takemy-money concepts over the years [see sidebar, page 018]. For this year’s shindig, which marked Jeep’s 75th anniversary and the Safari’s 50th, Jeep shipped out…

Every new BMW on sale in the United States, save for the electric-drive i3, carries at least one turbocharger. Audi and Mercedes-Benz are nearly as turbo-centric. Even stalwarts of high-revving, naturally aspirated engines, such as Ferrari and Honda, are strapping snails to their engines. And on the home front, Ford has been pushing hard on its EcoBoost turbocharged engines for almost a decade now. If turbochargers haven’t won the war against natural aspiration yet, they certainly appear unstoppable in this, their most recent campaign for domination. Increasingly stringent fuel-economy and emissions regulations worldwide are driving this switch to forced induction because turbochargers allow carmakers to maintain performance levels while reducing engine displacement and improving EPA fuel economy. Honeywell, a leading turbo supplier, reckons that by the year 2020, 39 percent…

TURBOCHARGERS may be synonymous with big power and torque, but automakers have a very different motive for embracing forced induction. Smaller turbo engines fare better than naturally aspirated ones with similar performance on the EPA’s granny-like driving schedule. However, it’s not always clear if the fueleconomy advantage holds up on public roads with quicker acceleration and higher speeds. To sniff out the real-world differences, we tested two Honda Civic sedans, each with the CVT, but one with the 174-hp turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder and one with the 158-hp naturally aspirated 2.0-liter. By the EPA’s measure, the turbo Civic holds a 1-mpg edge on the highway with its 31/42-mpg ratings. On a 300-mile loop of mixed highway, rural, and urban driving, the cars proved equally frugal by averaging 40 mpg. Digging deeper,…

Silence is golden, especially in an election year. But in a sports sedan, silence can be eerie. Absent the sound of hot air ripping through an exhaust, can you really be sure you’re in a car that performs? In the case of the 2017 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro, the sound-level meter confirms its soft-spoken nature. At a steady 70 mph, the A4 puts out a mere 63 decibels. That’s less noise than you’ll get in an S-class, Audi’s own A8, and the sensory-deprivation tank also known as the Lexus LS600hL. A Rolls-Royce Phantom is quieter, but only by one decibel. Point the A4 down a highway and all you hear is a light ruffling of wind—and watch your speed, the A4 is barely louder at 100 mph. Some of the…

Sometime over the last couple of decades, every luxury brand decided it needed an SUV to remain relevant in a market gone bonkers for tall wagonoids. Well, almost every one; Ferrari still hasn’t committed to any truck that we know of, though it would almost certainly be, as The Donald says, Yuge! That’s because buyers have shown no squeamishness toward SUVs from traditional luxury and sporting brands, and the only real trick is translating an exotic label’s core values into a fourdoor, hunchbacked mall finder. Maserati unabashedly declares victory in that effort by calling its new Levante “the Maserati of SUVs.” And now that we’ve pounded some of northern Italy’s pavement in what is likely to be the closest thing to a Ferrari offroader that we’ll ever get, we’re buying…

Increased towing capability, diesel fuel economy. A pricey option limited to upper trims, properly slow, gruff engine sounds. With the recent sales momentum of the revised Toyota Tacoma and the new Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon twins, GM’s introduction of diesel power to the mid-size-pickup segment seems like a clever play. But in a market built around established full-size trucks, the advantages of that combination are less than clear. Built in Thailand and available on 2016 Chevrolet and GMC models, GM’s new turbocharged 2.8-liter Duramax four-cylinder is an effective but leisurely workhorse. Although its 181 horsepower is less than the 200 from the standard 2.5-liter gasoline four, its hearty 369 pound-feet of torque surpasses the optional 3.6-liter V-6’s by a full 100. This long-stroke Duramax revs to only about 3000 rpm in…

Structurally sound, handsome, efficiently packaged, 31 mpg. Horrendous new-car smell. It’s hard to think of a car company that is striving as fervently as Hyundai. Each generation of product isn’t just a leap; it’s an Olympic pole vault. A British consultant living in Seoul once told your author that all Korean engineers do is work, smoke, and occasionally sleep. If so, then their sacrifice is at least not without tangible results. Take the new Elantra, which addresses our long-standing beef about the structural weakness of Hyundais. The old Elantra was a styling standout as well as a tidily packaged sedan with decent performance. But every bump sent shivers through the body, making it feel cheap and disposable. Hyundai heard our cries and fixed it. Besides some suspension revisions, the new…